good brother
by krissystvs
Summary: what's it mean to be a good big brother, Peter wonders that, and wonder's if he has been after all that had happened to Edmund


"Ed!" Peter called, looking through a number of tents trying to find his baby brother. Edmund had been out on a ride with Philip; Peter knew that Edmund had been having trouble adjusting to Narnia properly without the white witch striking revenge against him every second. Peter scoffed and shook his head, erasing the memories. Turns out, Edmund had had a run in with some unfriendly wolves. The moment he heard he had immediately set up his horse to look for him. That was before he was gently assured that Edmund was already back on camp. Unfortunately the young Pevensie had left the healers tent for a chance to look around. Which is what Peter was trying to find him for now. He was trying not to give up, but Edmund was a keen hider, and could hide wherever he wanted without trouble, which often distressed his other Pevensie siblings when unable to be found. He turned towards the river and to his complete shock; there was the said brother fast asleep, with his back up against a tree (which can't have been comfortable.) Peter smiled at the sight, but he knew that after a wolf attack, Edmund would need plenty of care and rest, which is what he would get once Peter got him back to the healers tent. So carefully, he picked up Edmund momentarily studying the lack of weight on Edmund, before realising that he wasn't eating and sleeping enough because of those stupid nightmares. He finally reached the tent and placed Edmund in a hammock, just as he began to stir:

"Pete…Peter?" Edmund called out with a shallow voice that made Peter cringe "Where are you, what's… No…please don't hurt me!" he called to nobody in particular, but Peter knew who Edmund thought was in front of him. He sat down in the hammock and pulled Edmund into his lap and began stroking his hair.

"I'm here Ed, it's alright." He soothed, Edmund starting panting shallow breaths, so Peter stopped stroking his hair and pulled him into a hug and rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"Peter?" He asked finally regaining consciousness Peter looked down at him. " I, I keep seeing her, keep feeling her ice cold touch, she's looking for me, she wants to sacrifice me on the stone table, I can't do it Peter, I'm so scared, why do I have to be such a coward." The child cried with a few tears falling from his eyes. Peter felt the tears well up in his own eyes, and fought to stop them from falling. It seemed so unfair how Edmund had to go through all of this, and he felt a pain stab at his heart at how he felt he couldn't have been their to help him or even to stop it from happening.

"Oh Ed, it'll be alright, I won't let her hurt you." He vowed, but the words "I promise" were stuck in his throat. Edmund shifted in Peter's grip then pulled himself out of the hug.

"Peter, but what if…what if she comes to hurt you, she might even kill you like she killed me, I couldn't cope if she had!" he sobbed. Peter frowned, out of all the terrible things Edmund had to remember, the poor boy just _had _to remember getting killed. This was almost too much for Peter too hear, his baby brother, the one who was supposed to be loved and protected by him, had been put through all that torture, while he thought of him as only a traitor. Peter felt a few tears fall from his eyes. "_How the heck am I a good brother, he was almost killed, heck he was killed!" _Peter thought _what must Edmund think of me now" _Peter's thoughts were stopped on that one question, what _did _Edmund think of him, sure he was allowing Peter to comfort him now, but what does he really think of him.

"Ed?" Peter asked. Edmund looked up at the sound of his name and nodded at Peter "Do…Do you think that, I'm a good enough big brother to you Edmund?" Edmund pondered on that thought. He loved Peter very much, especially after everything that had happened, but he knew why Peter had asked that question. Sure they had fought in the past, and Peter often used the fact of Edmund being the younger brother to his advantage. But he had also fought in battle many times in battle and told other warriors what a hero Edmund was. Edmund smiled up at his brother, the first smile in days Peter thought.

"Yes." Was his blatant answer. Peter smiled and put an arm round him again.

"That's good; I was worried that you blamed me for all the nightmares and stuff." Edmund smirked evilly, luckily Peter hadn't seen it.

"Oh right, well. I do actually blame you for the nightmares then." Peter looked at Edmund horrified.

"What! Why!" he screeched. Edmund burst out laughing

"You were the one who reminded Lucy that she could use her cordial to bring me too life! So…instead of a nice peaceful death, I'm stuck with these horrible nightmares every single night!" he joked. Peter stared gob-smacked at his little brother, then grabbed Edmund in a by the neck and started scraping his knuckles against his head, really hard. Deliberately ignoring Edmunds protests.

"You cheeky little!" he sighed "Love you Ed." Edmund smiled while trying to recover from a banging headache.

"Love you too Pete. And thanks." Edmund looked down then looked back at Peter. "Erm… Peter, please…please can I sleep with you tonight?" he asked desperately not wanting to leave Peter's comforting arms. Peter looked down at his puppy-eye-impression brother. And immediately nodded. Boy it felt good being a good brother.


End file.
